Spring-tire.



C. F. WREN.

SPRING TIRE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 7, 1908.

Patented Sept. 24, 191-2.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

if 26 M. o

INVENTOR- Alley/119m Patented Sept. 24, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Afforlzvy S UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES F. WREN, 0F PRESCOTT, ARIZONA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS,TO

CHARLES E. WOODS, OF LIBERAL, KANSAS.

SPRING-TIRE.

Application liled January 7,

Specification of Letters Patent.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. Wnmv, a citizen of the United States,residing at Prescott, in the county of Yavapai and State of Arizona,have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements inSpring-Tires, of which the following is a specification, reference beinghad therein to the 1 accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to resilient tires'or treads for vehicle wheels,more particularly wheels of automobiles, designed to take the place ofthe pneumatic tires usually employed.

The invention is especially applicable to that type of resilient wheeltread construction comprising an interior rim rigidly supported byspokes from the hub of a wheel and an exterior rim or tread portionyieldingly supported from said interior rim, although certain featuresthereof will be seen .to be of equal utility in resilient tread devicesof other types.

Devices of the above type as heretofore constructed have been of verylittle practical i value for the reason that few, if any, of suchdevices have been provided with-means for enabling the Same to withstandside strains, such as are necessarily placed upon them? when the vehicleturns a corner at relatively high speed, or whensaid vehicle is;traveling upon rough and uneven ,ground,{ or upon the side of a hill.Furthermore such devices as heretofore constructed ha.ve, as a rule,been designed solely to resist the stresses caused by t e weight of thevehicle; and the reaction of the ground, and have, had no adequateprovision for resisting the torsional strains thrown u on the wheel bythe motor of a self-propel ing vehicle, and; which will have a tendencyto turn the inner; rim within the outer rim or tread portion. In devicesof this character it will further; be seen that, aside from the tractionforces, under the weight of the vehicle alone, when the inner rim movesdownwardly at the bottom with respect to the outer run it must also movea corresponding amount in the same direction at the top, and also move?peripherally with respect to said outer rim. the sides of the wheel.Most of the re-l silient devices heretofore employed for con-;

necting the inner and outer rims have been| designed for the purpose ofresisting compression or expansion only, and, so far as I;

am aware, no etficient and practical device of this character has as yetbeen devised which is capable of permitting the peripheral movementreferred to without abnormal distortion of these connecting devices.

Some of the principal objects, therefore, of my invention are to providea resilient tire or tread construction for vehicle wheels which willovercome the objections above referred to, which will be strong anddurable, which will have its working parts protected from dirt andmoisture, which will have few wearing parts and whose wearing parts maybe readily replaced when necessary, which will not be unsightly, whichwill not tend to throw up dust or mud, whose parts may be easilyassembled and disassembled when desired, and which will be inexpensiveto construct.

Other objects of my invention, together with means whereby the same maybe carried into effect, will best be understood from the followingdetailed description of one form or embodiment thereof illustrated inthe accom anying drawings. It. is to be understoo however that theconstruction shown and described has been chosen for illustrativepurposes merely, and that the invention may be embodied in many otherforms without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

In said drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a wheelwith parts broken away having a rim constructed in accordance with myinvention. Fig. 2- is a similar view with one of the side platesremoved. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of the rim, takensubstantially on the line 33, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a sectional view of oneof the elastic supporting elements.

The wheel proper comprises the usual hub 12 and spokes 13, supporting aninner rim 14 provided with a pair of rigidly attached annular sideplates or p0rtions 15 of an exterior diameter somewhat greater than theexterior diameter of said rim 14. Means are preferably associated withthe side plates or portions 15 for resisting lateral fiexure of thelatter, whereby said portions are enabled to withstand side strains,such means, as herein shown, being provided by cross struts or braces16. The outer rim or tread portion 17 surrounds the inner rim 14 andplates 15, and is of sufficient diameter normally to leave a suitable asupporting devices 25 'plvoted at their op-' preferably provided withthickened portions 19 and 20 to give the same additional rigidity.Suitable packing strips 21 are preferably interposed between the plates18 and 15' for the pur ose of excluding dirt and moisture, and t e outeredges of the plates 15 may,

contact between said plates 15 and the outer rim 17 in case of anabnormal strain which will bring the parts in contact with one another.

The outer rim or tread portion 17 is pro vided at intervals around itsinterior with suitable lugs or ears 23 to each of which is pivoted, bymeans of a suitable pin or bolt 24, a pair of oppositely extendingresilient posite ends at '26 to the plates 15. These resilient devices,whose preferred construction will hereinafter be described, are eachadapted to resist and compression, and when in normal position maintainthe rims 14 and 17 in a certain predetermined relation to one another.

It will be seen, however, that any tendency l to disturb thispredetermined relation will be resisted by all of the devices 25, suchtendency placing some of these devices under tensile and others undercompressive stresses. For example, under ordinary circumstances, withthe weight of the vehicle upon the hub 12 and such weight resisted bythe reaction of the ground against the rim 17, the devices 25 at thebottom of the wheel will be placed under compression and 1 those at thetop of the wheel under tension,

. while of those at the side of the wheel one of each pair will beplaced under tension and the other under compression, the devicesturning freely on their pivots under'any eccentric stresses, theconstruction and arrangement of these devices being such as to permit arelative movement of the'rims 1.4

and 17 without subjecting any of the devices 25 to any strains otherthan those for which they are designed. It will furthermore be seen thatthe tendency of the motor of the vehicle to turn the Wheel relative tothe outer rim 17 will be suitably resisted by the devices 25 without anydanger of undue or lateral strain upon these devices. It willfurthermore be seen-that any side strains thrown upon the wheel inturning corners or when traveling upon uneven ground will if desired,'beprovided with suitable cushions or buffers 22 to cushion the yieldinglyboth tension end upon the closed absence be'resisted by the engagementof the laterally rigid plates 18 with the rigid plates 15 against which,as will be seen from Fig. 3, they have an extended bearing, while theplates 15 in turn are enabled to withstand the lateral strain by virtueof their own rigidity and the strength afiorded by the cross struts orbraces 16.

The preferred construction of the resilient supporting devices 25 isshown in Fig. 4. As shown in this figure'each of said devices comprisesa pair of telescoping tubes, an inner tube 27, provided with an ear orears 28 for the reception of the in or bolt 24, and an outer tube 29provide at its end with a suitable pivoting device 26,,above referredto. The inner tube 27, at its outer end, has a portion 30 of reduceddiameter providing, at a point substantially corresponding to theposition of the end of the outer tube 29 when the parts are in normalposition and at the inner end of said reduced portion anoffset orshoulder 300 against which normally rests a washer or loose collar 31,said washer-or collar being free to move longitudinally on the reducedportion 30 of said tube 27. Secured atone end to the washer 31 and atits'opposite end to a suitablesupport 32 rigid with the tube 29 is asuitable tension spring 33. This'attachment of the parts referred tomaybe efi'ected simply bysoldering said'parts together. i 3

The tube 29 may be formed with a permanently'closed outer end, or thisend may be formed by a suitable disk 34 as desired. Suitably secured tothe closed end 34 is a rod 35, loosely extending through a suitablewasher or disk 36, loosely fitting the interior of the tube 27, said rod35 having its inner end enlarged or provided with a head as shown, orbeing otherwise provided with a stop. or other means for limiting itsmovement with respect to said Washer or disk 36.

Interposed between the washer 'or disk 36 and the closed end 34 of thetube 29 is a suitable compression spring 37, while the inward movementof the washer @nr'disk 36 with respect to .the tube 27 is limited by astop 38, carried by said tube 27 on the interior thereof. c

. With the construction shown it will be seen that tensile stressestending to lengthen the device 25 as a whole will be resisted by thespring 33 actin at one end upon the or collar 31 which'is at this timeheld in engagement with the shoulder 300, upon the tube 27, whilecompressive stresses tending to shorten the device 25 will be resistedby the compression spring 37 acting at one end 34 of the member 29 andat the other, through the disk 36 and stop 38, upon the member 27 Itwill furthermore be seen that, although when the accaace device 25 isunder compression the spring 37 acts against the stop 38 through thewasher or'disk 36, if the compression be discontinued and the device besubjected to tension so that the inner tube 27 is drawn outwardly fromthe tube 29, the force of the spring 37 upon the tube 27 is discontinuedand the spring 37 rendered inoperative, since the movement of the disk36 upon the rod 35 is limited by the enlarged end of said rod.Furthermore it will be seen that when the device is subjected tocompression and the tube 27 pushed into the tube 29, the washer 31remains stationary, the same being in contact with the end of the tube29, so that while the device is under compression the force of thetension spring 33 is discontinued and this spring rendered inoperative.It will thus be seen that the two springs are entirely independent ofone another and do not tend to neutralize the action of each other sinceonly one of these springs can act at a time. With the parts in normalposit-ion,

of these springs is n a position to act, and

if the parts he moved in one direction one of these springs will act andthe other will be thrown out of operation, and vice versa. The partswill preferably tion both of the springs 33 and 37 will be inoperative,but upon slight relative movement of the members 27 and 29 in eitherdirection one or will be thrown into operation.

With the construction just described the devices 25 place no initial orni'irmal strain u on the structure as a whole. Ihe removal In similarconstructions as heretofore used the resilient devices, such assprings,-

employed to connect the inner and outer rims have, as a rule, beenradially "arranged and have been designed to re st tension orcompression only. The weighs oi, the vehicle at any particular time willtherefore be thrown upon a comparatively few of these designed those atthe bottom of the wheel if for compression or those at the top of thewheel if designed for tension, and these devices must therefore each beconstructed strong enough to bear this weight and the jars incident tothe travel of the vehicle. Moreover at the sides of the wheel, due tothe weight of the vehicle, and throughout the wheel, due to the tractionforce of the motor, these devices are subjected to lateral stressestending to distort devices,

as shown in Fig. 4, each be so constructed and proportioned that when innormal pos1- l the other of these springs devices is therefore renderedeasy. Moreover no delicate adthem and which they have not been designedto resist. In a few cases it has been roposed to arrange these springsat an ang e to the radius of the wheel in order, in a measure, towithstand these lateral strains. In all such constructions,however,these springs have been rigidly secured to the rims and are thereforenot entirely free from the eccentric stresses above referred to, orhave, in themselves, been ossessed of little or no lateral rigidit anare therefore almost wholly incapa is of resisting effectively thestrains of tension and compression present at the top and bottom of thewheel. With my construction, however, it will be seen that every stressthrown upon the wheel will be divided up among all of the supportingdevices 25, each one of which is therefore called upon to resist verylittle strain, and these devices may therefore be made comparativelylight and very resilient. Moreover, since these devices are soconstructed, by virtue of the telescoping and mutually guided tubularmembers 27 and 29, as to have considerable lateral rigidity,

- and are pivoted at their ends so as to turn freely under forcescircumferential to the wheel, the whole structure possesses theproperties of an articulated truss, in which the load is carried by allthe members in the form of tensile or compressive stresses and withoutany eccentric loading upon the individual members. It will furthermorebe seen that, by virtue of the lateral rigidity of the members 25 andthe character of their pivotal. connections at 24 and 26, these devicesor members are constrained to turn about their pivots substantially in asingle plane. This construction cooperates with the interengaging sidemembers 15 and 18 in resisting side strains and in maintaining theresilient rim or'tlre in proper position 1n turning corners and uponrough or uneven ground.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as my invention anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a tire, the combination withsubstantially rigid inner and outer rims, of a plurality of supportingdevices independently connected at their opposite ends to said inner andouter rims respectively, said devices being provided with means foryieldingly resisting both tension and compression applied thereto andstops for limiting the operation of said resisting means.

2. In a tire, the combination with substantially rigid inner and outerrims provided with laterally rigid overlapping side portions, of aplurality of alternately opp0- sitely disposed and laterally device'sindependently pivoted at their opposite ends-to said inner and outerrims respectively, said devices being provided with means for yieldinglyresisting both tension rigid supporting 7 and compression appliedthereto and stops for limiting the operation of said resisting means.

3. In a vehicle wheel, the combination with a rim provided with sideplates, of transverse, inclined struts for bracing said side platesagainst lateral strains.

4. In a vehicle wheel, the combination with a tread member, of laterallyrigid and oppositely inclined devices for sup-porting said tread member,said devices being provided with means for yieldingly resisting tensionapplied thereto, and means torrendering said tension-resistlng meansmoperative when said devlce is in normal condition.

5. In a vehicle wheel, the combination with a tread member, of adevicefor supsaid tread member, means for yieldporting ingly resisting bothtensionand compressionapplied to said device,

means.

6. In a vehicle wheel, vice comprising two telescoping tubular members,

in the opposite direction,

when the other is in operation.

7. In a vehicle wheel, a supporting device.

comprising two telescoping tubular members, one of said members having areduced Q portion providing a shoulder lying, when said parts are innormal position, adjacent:

the end of the other member, a collar loosely mounted on said reducedportion, and aspring connecting said collar and said other member.

8. In a vehicle wheel, a supporting device comprising two telescopingtubular members, one of said members having a closed and stops forlimiting the operation of both of said resisting I supporting devicesindependently pivot a supporting'del a spring for yieldingly resistinglrelative movement of said members in one; direction, a second spring foryieldingly rev sisting relative movement of said members and stops forrendering each of said springs inoperative rosaeee end, and a rodcarried by said closed end and entering the other of said members, astop on the end of said rod, a collar loosely mounted on said rod, aspring interposed between said collar and said closed end, and means onthe interior of said lastnamed member for engaging said collar.

9. In a tire, the combination with substantially rigid inner and outerrims, of a plurality of yielding supporting devices independentlypivoted at their opposite ends to said rims, said devices being providedwith resilient means for resisting all longitudinal forces appliedthereto and w1th means for limiting the initial action of said resilientmeans.

10. In'a tire, the combination with a substantially rigid inner rim anda substantially rigid outer rim, said rims having overlapping laterallyrigid side portions, of a plurality of alternately oppositely inclined,laterally rigid and longitudinally yieldin attheir opposite ends to saidrims, said devices being provided with springs for resisting alllongitudinal forces applied there to and with stops for limiting theinitial tension of said springs.

11. In a vehicle'wheel, with a substantially rigid inner rim, a subsaidresisting means.

In testimony whereof I alfix my signature, I

in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES-F. WHEN.

Witnesses: 1 7

W. E. GINDER,

JNO. J. HAwKINs;

the combination

